I'll pipe in with a version of the best known for this...

Tuna Casserole

1 can tuna, drained
1 can condensed cream of (fill in the blank) soup
3 cups cooked elbow pasta (macaroni noodles)
2 tbsp dried onion flakes

Reconstitute onion flakes with 1/2c water for half an hour. Throw out excess liquid.

Preheat oven to 350F, Allow hardwood fire to burn down to coals, do whatever you need to to bring your cooking area to medium hot.

In a 9x13" baking dish, combine macaroni, tuna, onions and soup. Mix well.

Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes until bubbly.

This is closer to a proto-recipe than an actual recipe. The ingredients range wildly depending on what you have available, if there's anything fresh that can be added to it, what frozen, dried or otherwise processed vegetables and spices you have in your closet. The only real rule is make sure everything going into it is either precooked or can be eaten raw (decent vehicle for leftovers) and keep the bulk ratio (macaroni to soup) about the same.

To the above tuna dish, I usually add;

3 extra cups macaroni

Cheese mix
1/3c cheese powder
3 tbsp dried milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1 c hot water

and whatever veggies I have in the fridge that need to be eaten in the next 2 days before they go bad.

Cheesy tuna goodness.

So, last night was my Pantry night. Nothing out of the fridge or freezer. While I used fresh onions and potatoes, they both store well, and can be replaced with canned or dehydrated potatoes and onions if necessary, just reconstitute the dried veg before adding to the recipe.

Corn Chowder served with Bannock

1 can chicken broth
2 cans whole corn
1 onion, diced
3 cups diced potatoes
2 cans evaporated milk
1/2 tsp garlic
pinch of cumin
salt, pepper to taste

Boil broth, corn, onions and potatoes then reduce to a simmer until potatoes are cooked. (*edit*) That was about 30 minutes, and I had to top up the liquid once as the broth had reduced down quite a bit. When using canned veg, 1 can of broth is appropriate. Otherwise, I'd add about a half can of water as well to make up moisture losses when cooking)
Spice during simmer with whatever your heart desires. I found a little extra garlic and just a dash or two of cumin worked well
Add 2 cans of evaporated milk, bring back to a near boil before seasoning with salt and pepper and serving.

Bannock:
2C Flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp veg (canola) oil
1/4 tsp salt

Mix, add enough water to make doughy consistency (I admit, I never measure this...)
Form into cakes about a half inch thick and dust with flour
Fry 10-12 minutes in a greased frying pan, cook on both sides.

Results:
Filling if a little bland, and the flavor of evaporated milk was fairly obvious. Next time, I'll go with a heavier hand in the spice rack, and may add a bit more cumin and possibly some tumeric to it for a mild curry flavor. A quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper wouldn't be off in this either, especially going the curry route. Just something to add a bit of background heat to the dish.
The bannock turned out great, but this doesn't surprise me as this has always been a kitchen staple for me, and a comfort food I was introduced to as a kid.

Dessert is a bit of your favorite jam on a piece of bannock you didn't eat with the chowder.

*Edit* added cooking time, notes on liquid levels.

Great recipes... I will add my own once I am finished unpacking!

Can anyone give me a home recipe to lighten my hair? I don't want to use the lemon, hydrogen peroxide, tea, buy the hair dye, or those things. I have black/dark brown hair.
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affiliateelite ~ affiliateelite.com ~ adgooroo ~ adgooroo.com

Hi, kathsuma

Good question! I searched for alternate natural hair lightening techniques. Beer is suggested. As is Cinnamon, basically you add Cinnamon to your conditioner, wrap your head with plastic and let it soak in for 6 to 8 hours, then rinse out.

http://www.wikihow.com/Lighten-Your-Hair-With-Cinnamon

oops, sorry
that should be

Hi, kathsumi

😳

Last nights recipe could be viewed as cheating I suppose, as this is a regular meal for me and not something I experimented with for the night. On the other hand, I know it's good and it worked for supper

Spaghetti and sauce.

Sauce:
1 can crushed tomatoes
1/2 small can tomato paste
1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 inches of chorizo sausage (any hard dried/smoked flavorful sausage should work)
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder

On med to medhigh heat, heat the oil in a saucepan, then add the sausage chopped as fine or as coarse as you wish. (I slice it into medallions about 1/8" thick) Give a quick stir or two as it sizzles, it only needs a minute or two in the pan. Add the crushed tomatoes (or diced, or whole, whatever you have really) and the spices and reduce to a simmer, covered for about 20-25 minutes. Add half a can of tomato paste, stir well and simmer again for another 15 to 20, stirring occasionally. Taste the sauce, adjust the seasoning to meet your personal preferences (more salt, garlic, hot peppers etc) and serve over cooked spaghetti, or whichever pasta you happen to have.

Dessert was canned mandarin oranges and sliced almonds.

I just recently came across this website and its recipes page, hope you find it inspiring...

http://thetuckerbag.blogspot.com/p/road-recipes.html

The motherload:

http://www.vintagerecipes.net/

Recipes from cookbooks out of 1800-1940 ish. Be warned, by standards of today's cookbooks these are woefully vague when it comes to things like amounts, temperatures and cooking times, but with a bit of experimentation and common sense, I'm sure the recipes can be used. I'm already eyeing some of the ones for things that you may need that don't keep particularly well and don't think of making for yourself, like cheese (they even have the methods for preserving rennet, however for this one to work, you need a day old calf... good thing the other half's family runs a dairy farm.) or preparing your own yeast.

They have several of the vintage cookbooks in their entirety

http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/

as well as seperated by type and food. I'm super excited about this website, and it's going to be difficult to go back to work when my break is over ><

Vanislemom... what a great blog! I laughed at her post today dedicated to the new kindle... kindle devotees are an enthusiastic bunch, lol

Aphrael, great link!
I scrolled through there and it turns out that a few of these out-of-print cookbooks that provide some of the recipes are available on the kindle e-reader for free due to their public domain status ~ I had downloaded the Pennsylvania Dutch and Virginia Housewife cook books a few months back. I will look through my kindle today and find more of the free cookbooks that I have come across.

I have a very old smeared notebook of my grandmas recipes from the 30's, as well as her old Purity cookbook I will see if there are some goodies I can post here as well. Back then they were living very remote in float houses at an isolated camp so everything to do with these recipes is based on making do with what you have at hand, no electricity etc...

I love this !! Imitation Raspberry Jelly -- for when you have no raspberries.

http://adventuresofathriftymama.blogspot.com/2011/11/imitation-raspberry-jelly-grandmas.html

I admit, I fell off the wagon and was slacking on this for the last few weeks, but have climbed back up and am ready to continue the Great Storage Cooking Experiment (tm)

Yesterday's supper (and lunch for the next week or so...) was the ever classic bean soup

200g White Beans
200g Lentils
200g Pinto Beans
100g Split peas
100g Barley

1 can black beans
1 can chickpeas
1 can kidney beans
1 can tomatoes (big can)

3 tsp chili powder
3 tsp thyme
2 tsp sage
2 tbsp salt
3 tsp onion powder
3 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp canola oil
2 boullion cubes
water

Soak all of the dry ingredients (anything measured by grams) with the exception of the barley in water over night. Use twice as much water as beans, and make sure they stay covered with water. They will expand, so be warned!

Rinse the now rehydrated beans, and the canned beans before combining in a big pot. Add everything else to the pot, put on the stove and bring to a boil before reducing it to a simmer for the next four hours or so. You can cook this as long as you wish, from the four hours shown to 10 or 12 depending on what else is going on and how quickly you get back to the pot. The only thing to watch is make sure the liquid levels stay high enough to keep it from solidifying on the bottom of the pot. Trust me, thats the last thing you want to try and clean up. Take 3 or 4 cups of beans and liquid out of the pot, and attack it with a potato masher before returning to the pot to make a nice thick base for your soup.

Taste it, and add any more seasonings you wish to personal taste. I usually throw more garlic and onion at it at this point, and occasionally a tablespoon or so of mixed 'green' spices, aka poultry seasoning. Serve with bannock or bread for a lovely thick cold weather meal.

As I've mentioned before my shtf eating plan is soup and bannock or pancakes, because it's simple and easy. Well, I came across a recipe for tortillas that looks pretty simple and easy. Score!

http://preparedforsurvival.blogspot.com/2011/11/homemade-flour-tortillas-frugal-easy.html

It's probably cheaper than buying them, too.

Was getting my daily *fix* over at shtfplan, someone posted this link for Scotch Broth -- one year supply of food storage for under $300

http://baconandeggs-scifichick.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-year-supply-of-food-storage-under.html